Jaxom and whoever else wants to read,
I am also a long time lurker, first time poster, and let me start by saying, yes Jaxom, you posting here is appropriate!
I started to become motivated to make comment recently seeing some pretty bad advise getting thrown around by somebody who seems to ‘know it all’, and not take the hint from people in the actual know when it is time to take the humble and helpful road, vice the big nothing road. But ultimately I couldn’t be bothered, as the system has a way of sorting those people out eventually. However your post has inspired me to comment after a long time of watching from the back of the bus.
Your story sounds very similar to mine if I went back 10+ years, but skip forward and I have had and am still having a very successful career as a RAAF pilot.
I was the same age as you are now when I joined, I even read this thread back then too! And like you I was unsure as to whether I was good enough or who they wanted. I was scared of failure, as I tried to get in when I was 17 at school and failed all of the pilot aptitude testing miserably! I had the psychologist tell me to my face I was not smart enough and should consider another career.... I was destroyed, and thought it would never happen and I was too scared to go back for the longest time. But like you I kept coming back to wanting to do it, but I just couldn’t muster up the courage to apply.... till one day I just took the leap and the rest is history.
So how do you ask did I turn it around? Simple.... I worked my arse off!
17 year old me had read a couple of recruiting pamphlets, and I knew I always wanted to do it, and because I wanted it so bad I deserved it right? Wrong. So I just turned up, completely unprepared, and the result unsurprisingly was a big fat fail.
Skip to 25 year old me, who didn’t want a repeat of my experience at 17, because to be quite honest at the time it was life shattering, So I decided to prepare as best I could. I did all sorts of things, from Prep courses for maths, aptitude testing courses, visited several bases, spoke to actual pilots, lived and breathed it and worked my butt off.
So a bit of advice regarding some of the stuff I have read on here lately....
Now we could sit here and debate whether ASP is harder or easier than FSP, what traits they are testing for, what scores mean what and etc etc.....
But the reality is that none of that is useful to any of you, and the so called info regarding ASP scores etc you have all read in this thread is at best guesswork, and again not useful to you.
What is relevant to all of you is that ASP exists, there is nothing you can do about that, and you need to pass it to progress.
Sharing the gouge(good info) is one of the first lessons we teach you at the schools, and that’s what this thread should be about. I have seen comments from people not willing to divulge any gouge as to what is involved in the testing, telling you you can’t prepare you either have it or you don’t... make no mistake about it, this person is wrong and what we call a gouge hoarder, out there for himself, not to help out. That’s not how we operate in the aircrew world.
I am a QFI at one of the schools at the moment, and I have seen all kinds come through over the last few years, and I have seen all kinds not make it as well.
I can tell you that myself and all of my aircrew brethren would rather train a weaker candidate, with a good attitude that has to work their ass off to keep up, than the natural with a superior attitude who is not a team player. The later puts a bad taste in our mouths, and we will often weed them out, because frankly they don’t belong in the RAAF.
So why do I say all of this.... I say it for those of you out there that read some of the overly cocky comments on here from some of the recruiting warriors amongst you (you have all met one I am sure) and think maybe I am not as good as that guy/girl. Make no mistake, the false bravado is designed to put off the competition, and usually their puffed up story of how well they are doing is greatly exaggerated.
Now I am not going to lie, I know next to nothing about ASP and I cannot help you with that, that’s what sharing the gouge and all you lot are for! But I do know what product we are looking for, and I know who makes it through training as I see them and teach them everyday. Some of my proudest moments instructing have been seeing some of my struggling students get wings at the end from sheer will, determination and grit. Nobody, and I mean nobody gets through Pilots course by themselves.
So my advice would be this....
Be humble and help each other.
Share the gouge, give yourselves the best chance to find a way to prepare for the testing.
Ignore the naysayers, there is always a way to prepare for everything, you just need to find it!
Whilst you are in competition for a spot, run your own race, don’t worry about anybody else and how they may be doing. Remember other people need to pass too for you to have course mates! Start the teamwork now.
Finally, anonymous forums are one thing, but go and call a base and ask to be put through to a squadron, and ask to speak to a pilot. I have been on the other end of the line many times over the years and it always impresses. Get the advice from the horses mouth, rather than the recruiting warriors.
Finally, Good luck to everybody, and to Jaxon, you owe it to yourself to have a shot mate, don’t die wondering!
SHT